SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002254 STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM NSC FOR NEA STAFF SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA HQ USAF FOR XOXX DA WASHDC FOR SASA JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 JERUSALEM ALSO ICD LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Israel-Turkey Relations ¶3. Iran ¶4. U.S.-Israel Relations -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Yediot reported that Jewish Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL),an associate of President Obama, is likely to become the United States next ambassador to Israel. The newspaper noted that the White House Press Office would not comment on the report. In its lead story, HaQaretz reported that a resolution that the PA and a group of countries intend to submit to the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC),which will deliberate over the Goldstone report on last winter's Gaza offensive, will also deal with Jerusalem, the Temple Mount riots, and the siege of Gaza,. According to a diplomatic source in Jerusalem, the PA's ambassador to U.N. institutions in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told the ambassadors of the countries involved -- most of them Arab and Muslim -- that the main motivation behind the Palestinian request to discuss the Goldstone report stemmed from "Israeli provocations in Jerusalem." The Palestinians had originally decided not to have the report discussed. The Palestinian Ambassador said Israel must be shown that it cannot evade international law. The new draft resolution is entitled, "The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem." The resolution, which Foreign Ministry sources have described as "very extreme," has three parts: East Jerusalem, the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and the report by the UN's Human Rights Commissioner on conditions in Gaza. HaQaretz quoted an official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry as saying that the draft "will only serve to show how excessive the Palestinian claims really are." Leading media reported that the UNHRC will reopen the debate on the Goldstone report in a special session in Geneva tomorrow. 
 The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the U.S. (Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley) reiterated that all Quartet demands must remain in place for dealing with any Palestinian national unity government that might be formed, amid reports that the sides had reached some level of misunderstanding. Major media cited an announcement by the Syrian Defense Minister yesterday that Turkey and his country will conduct a large-scale joint military exercise. Yediot quoted senior Israeli defense sources as saying that this is yet another Turkish mistake that conveys haste and distress. HaQaretz and other media reported that Israel seeks to lower tensions with Turkey. Israel Hayom quoted FM Avigdor Lieberman as saying that the deterioration in relations with Turkey Qdoes not depend on usQ and Turkey has decided to get closer to the Qaxis of evil. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe and Israel Radio quoted Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley as saying yesterday at the DepartmentQs daily briefing: QI believe that [excluding Israel from the aerial exercise] was a Turkish decision. As to the question of whether there was a government that was invited to participate and then removed at the last minute, we think itQs inappropriate for any nation to be removed from an exercise like this at the last minute. Israel Radio and other media cited a Turkish military source as saying in the Turkish publication Zaman that the reason for the exerciseQs postponement was the fact that Israel failed to deliver to Turkey drones in time. The radio quoted Israeli sources as saying that the cause of the delay was in production problems in the Turkish plant producing optical equipment for the UAVs. All media reported that yesterday the IDF released photographs taken by drone aircraft of the southern Lebanon village where a Hizbullah arms depot exploded on Monday. The photos show persons, possibly Hizbullah operatives, removing something resembling a 4-meter-long missile from the depot, loading it onto a truck and moving it to a hiding place in a different village. HaQaretz quoted a senior Israeli military source as saying yesterday that Syria has made a clear strategic decision to make available to Hizbullah every type of military hardware in its arsenal. According to the same source, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is wary of entering Shi'ite villages in the area and generally avoids trying to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids Hizbullah from having any arms inside the villages south of the Litani River. Leading media reported that yesterday IsraelQs Ambassador to the U.N. Gabriela Shalev filed an official complaint about those violations with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council. Israel Radio quoted Hizbullah as saying that the village in question is north of the Litani River, so that it did not breach 1701. Major media reported that yesterday Russian FM Sergey Lavrov told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Moscow that even threatening new sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive. Maariv reported that the Israeli defense establishment recently warned IDF officers residing with their families in European cities with a Muslim population tightly connected with Hizbullah about possible attacks, due to the ongoing concern of revenge for the assassination of senior Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah in Damascus. Maariv reported that council chairpersons in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] are starting to come to terms with the reduction in the scope of construction in their settlements, and are searching for practical solutions to minimize the damage. Maariv reported that the State ComptrollerQs Office has issued a tough report on DM Ehud BarakQs inflated account of expenses during his trip to the Paris Show. In an unrelated story, last night Channel 2-TV presented an investigative report about an expensive official four-day stay in Paris by former Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik (Kadima) three years ago. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Knesset Member Shlomo Molla -- who is of Ethiopian origin -- hit back at allegations made in the newspaper by an anonymous source that he had used donations from U.S. Jewish organizations and individuals for personal expenses. HaQaretz reported that yesterday Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, the new commander of the IDFQs Judea and Samaria [i.e. West Bank] Division, suspended two divisional officers on suspicion that soldiers under their command destroyed cars belonging to West Bank Palestinians. He took action less than a day after receiving a complaint from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem about two separate incidents that allegedly occurred this week. HaQaretz noted that his quick move was meant to show he takes attacks on Palestinian property very seriously. The Jerusalem Post quoted a report due to be released today by BQTselem and the group Hamoked, according to which 28 Palestinians have been held in administrative detention for two to four days. Maariv reported on increased friction between Israel and Russia, which closed the main offices of Nativ -- formerly a secret Israeli organization that fostered emigration to Israel. Leading media reported that the National Federation of Israel Journalists will bestow lifetime achievement awards to Yaron London and Mordechai (Moti) Kirschenbaum, who presently anchor Channel 10-TVQs current affairs program QLondon and Kirschenbaum,Q and Sever Plotker, YediotQs Chief Economic Editor. Over the past few days media have reported on the sale of the Israeli start-up firm CopperGate Communications to California-headquartered Sigma Designs for $187 million. Sigma controls 80% of the multimedia chip market, and CopperGate is a leader in communications. Maariv ran a feature about the dispute between President Obama and FOX-TV over coverage and access. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Plea Bargain" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (10/14): QThe true cause for anxiety in Jerusalem ... is not Goldstone, but U.S. President Barack Obama, who has taken an indirect diplomatic approach against Netanyahu. Instead of coming out publicly against the Prime Minister with a demand that he end the occupation and get out of the territories, and wasting political energy on a quarrel with Israel's friends in Congress, Obama has simply made Netanyahu understand that American support is not axiomatic, that if Netanyahu looks over his shoulder he may not see Obama there covering him. II. "The More Extreme -- the Better" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented on page one of the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/14): QIt isnQt worth the while getting excited over out=cries of grief that come out in Jerusalem in protest over the decision of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to present to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva a restructured report of the Goldstone commissionQs. Sages have said about such initiatives: QThe worse it is, the better.Q The more extreme the Palestinian proposal, the less chances it will have to garner the WestQs support... In the same way Obama swallowed settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, heQll have to take in the Palestinian return to Goldstone. III. "Two Stories, One Ending" Giora Eiland, former Director of IsraelQs National Security Council, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/14): Q[There is a] contradiction between the hope, the American aspiration, and activism in promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace in the near future, and the conspicuous lack of desire on both sides, the Israeli and the Palestinian, to join him in that effort. This gap reflects a basic American misunderstanding toward the question: what is the conflict about.... Arafat's refusal to agree to the proposals set forth by Barak and Clinton in 2000 was not because of large gaps over what is mistakenly called the Qcore issues,Q but rather his understanding that with the establishment of a small and limited Palestinian state, he would be forced to recognize the Zionist narrative. ARAFAT could not accept this in 2000 and Abu Mazen cannot accept it in 2009. Neither the Israeli Government nor the Palestinian Government can compromise over the QnarrativeQ and then continue to survive politically. That is the real core issue and the one that Americans have trouble understanding. -------------- ¶2. Israel-Turkey Relations: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "Erdogan Joins Anti-Semitic Incitement" Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (10/14): QOfficially, Israel has made great efforts not only to prevent any criticism of Ankara, but even not to refer to historic-journalistic recounts of the [Armenian genocide] as described in Franz Werfel's classic book QThe Forty Days of Musa Dagh.Q Israel employed several lobbies in the U.S. and in Europe to help its Qstrategic ally.Q Turkey is repaying us in the opposite coin. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who presumed to be a moderate and enlightened Muslim ruler, has closed ranks with the anti-Semitic incitement of the kind typical of Nasrallah and Khaled Mashal and a number of Israeli Arab Knesset members and found himself a supporter in the Jew-hating Jew Richard Goldstone, whose report is a disgrace to integrity. This is a two-pronged attack that tries to question the legitimacy of the existence of the Jewish state. But how can Israel maneuver against the octopus trying to devour it? The answer is not easy. Many Israelis (and Americans) believe that everything can be solved. As if at any time and any place, there was a solution to every conflict. Reality is more complex. The Government must wage the battle against the malice of Erdogan and Goldstone as if convinced of its ability to repel them. But is must also take into account that if forced to make do with a solution that is mere Qcrisis management,Q with no clear outcome-that will be a real achievement. -------------- ¶3. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "The End of the Military Option" Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/14): QIn giving the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, the members of the Nobel committee effectively closed the lid on the American military option in Iran. The prestigious award ties the President's hands.... [Eventually], a clear Iranian recognition that any attempt to attack Israel with nonconventional weapons will lead to the certain demolition of Iran as a modern state should prevent its rulers from even thinking about using their nuclear arms. Rulers, even strict Islamic ones, do not commit suicide with their states. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his followers may not be particularly nice, but they are certainly very rational. -------------- ¶4. U.S.-Israel Relations: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "An Open Letter to Ambassador Michael Oren" Jeremy Ben-Ami, the liberal Jewish Lobby J StreetQs Executive Director, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (10/14): QPublic comments by your spokesman last week indicate that you have Qconcerns over certain policies [of J Street's] that could impair Israel's interests.Q I'm sure you also have concerns and disagreements over policies advocated by certain political parties and their leaders in Israel. That's democracy -- and it is fitting that there would be deep disagreements at moments of important communal decision. We too have our own serious concerns over the policies of the present Israeli government and its impact not just on Israel's interests but on our interests as Americans and as American Jews. As Jews who care about Israel, we fear that, on Israel's present path, we will see our shared dream of a Jewish, democratic home in the state of Israel slip through our fingers. As Americans, we worry about the impact of Israeli policies on vital U.S. interests in the Middle East and around the world. Finally, as American Jews, we worry that the health and vitality of our community will be deeply affected by what happens in the region, how the world perceives Israel and by how our community here at home deals with increasingly complex conversations around Israel. CUNNINGHAM